Aida Ruel
Appearance Aida commonly wears her long wavy hair pinned back or in a braid down her back--it is silvery-grey as if many more years weigh on her than her youthful face suggests. You quickly notice her light blue eyes, piercing and thoughtful. She is tall and athletic, with fair skin and a small scar on her left cheekbone. An aquamarine crystal hangs at Aida's neck, and beneath her clothes, you can see a glimpse of a long chain bearing an unseen pendant. On her right hand, she wears a fine platinum band. Her voice is gentle yet confident. More often, though, she can be seen lost in thought, a half-smile on her mouth as she absently listens to the conversation of others around her. She wields a longsword with a gleaming, lustrous purple blade, double-edged and tapered to thrust as well as slash. It has three fullers incised into the blade to reduce weight. The guard and pommel bear simple but elegant scrollwork, and its grip of black leather fits perfectly in her small hands. Her shield and plate armor are unostentatious, with no emblems or decor other than the simplicity of fine craftsmanship. She also wears a brown traveler's cloak and sturdy boots, unadorned, well-worn, though cared for. Fluff History Aida is originally from a small village in the east of Breland, from a human/half-elf family of no importance. Her father Rowe is a carpenter, her mother Myra (now deceased) a barkeep, and she hasn't seen her brother Irvin (6 years older) since he left home without saying goodbye when she was 10. Aida has not seen her father in a year, and finds the prospect of Serving as a Brelish soldier of insignificant rank, Aida was captured by a goblin clan during the war and enslaved by the Marguul in Darguun for nearly a decade. Shortly after the Treaty of Thronehold, after many years of quiet compliance and biding her time (while protecting the many slaves under her unofficial leadership), Aida and her now-lost lover Zera engineered the revolt and escape of several dozen slaves across the mountains into freedom. Aida returned to her childhood village after escaping, but everything was….different. Childhood friends moved on, dead, or changed. Mother dead from illness. Father was kind, but distant… Aida was uncomfortable. She certainly wasn't the same anymore. Nobody was the same. Rather than face it, she left. She feels guilty for cutting her father out of her life so soon after her return, but he only sees the little girl she was, not the so-very-different person that returned from Darguun. She made her way to Sharn and joined the Wayfinders in hopes of finding herself in all her wanderings. She sees it as a way to continue fighting for freedom and bringing healing to the war-torn and weary, without finding herself bound to one place. Involvement in the Last War Aida enlisted as a Brelish soldier to follow Riley, a childhood friend she felt indebted to. She saved Aida's life once, and Aida felt indebted to do the same. Aida feels deep guilt that Riley died in battle beside her and she could do nothing to stop it. In 988 YK, Aida and two fellow soldiers were captured while on patrol by a Marguul raiding party. She spent the next decade in Darguun as a slave. Invitation One of her fellow escaped slaves, Tarik, was the child of Oskar Goderr, an old friend and adventuring companion of Boroman ir'Dayne. The grateful dwarf recommended Aida for inclusion in the Foundation, and they quickly issued an invitation after learning of her background, untapped leadership potential, and unusual psionic abilities, useful both in combat and out. Oskar owns a shop, Oskar's Oddities, in Redstone, Upper Dura. His shop is full of items, mostly junk, collected on his own travels, as well as the leftovers from Foundation expeditions that aren't deemed worthy of the auction block. His wife, Ilde, is currently in the Mror Holds with aging family, and Oskar has given Aida free access to her carpentry shop. The older dwarf has looked after Aida and become like a second family to her. Experience Aida was enslaved in Darguun for a decade, where she quickly became the de facto leader and protector of the slaves in "her" construction crew. When possible, she hid her carpentry skill from her captors, instead subtly helping other slaves to appear more competent. She protected "her" crew as best she could from the lash (or worse, being reassigned to the mines). She and her (now-deceased) lover Zera orchestrated a rebellion among the slaves, leading them across the Seawall Mountains into freedom. Today, her ability to bolster her allies' abilities, as well as her two-way telepathy and profound insight into her friends and foes make her an invaluable member of any adventuring team. Motivation Aida loves encountering new people, perspectives and cultures, expanding her horizons. She knows she wants to serve and protect others, preferring to work on a team than any independent work. But ultimately, she joined the Foundation because after slavery and other...changes, she had no idea who she was anymore. This gives her the ability to feel like she's doing something that matters, serving her teammates in a reasonably noble cause. While hunting down ancient artifacts, she hoped to find herself in the process. Future Goals Aida has now had the opportunity to explore Sarlona, coming far closer to the quori than she should have, but learning a great deal about herself and her enemies in the process. She would love to have the chance to explore ancient Giant ruins, prior to the Turning of the Age and the destruction of Crya, in hopes of finding more information about the ancient quori-that-are-no-more. As far as her deeper goals, Aida has taken sides in the war against the Dreaming Dark, and her ultimate aim is to do whatever she can to subvert their plans while remaining under the radar (see Secrets). She is currently wrestling with the practicality of needing children to continue her line (once again, for why, see Secrets), but has not come to terms with the necessity of giving up who she has become and what she loves doing. Trivia After two "incidents", Aida no longer bears weapons in the Wayfinder Lounge: # Shortly after her return from Riedra, Aida nearly came to blows with Cicero in the Wayfinder Lounge. He made some thoughtless comments about slavery and exploiting street orphans for cheap labor, one thing led to another, and she drew her sword on him. She feels guilty about this. The confrontation perhaps bore some fruit, though, as Cicero, Reva and some others have spearheaded the creation of an orphanage and school for these children. # A few days after this, while Aida and her Riedra companions chatted in the lounge about their traumatic mission, Su cast detect thoughts on the Wayfinders. Her magic went undetected until she tried to probe Aida's mind more deeply (considered "misuse of magic" under the Galifar Code of Justice). Aida immediately suspected a Dreaming Dark spy in their midst, found Su hiding in a corner eavesdropping, and drew her sword. After ascertaining that Su was most likely just foolish, not malicious, she ran Su out of the lounge. She has only spoken to Su once since: "My life has been spent being controlled. My body has survived the slave camps of the Marguul. My mind has survived the assault of the Inspired. And I will not be enslaved, I will not be controlled. Stay out of my head. Keeper take you, I am free." Ketaal Over the first few months after her arrival at the Foundation, Aida slowly developed first a grudging respect, then friendship, with Ketaal, a hobgoblin and fellow Wayfinder. One evening, she drank a bit too much whilst deconstructing Cinnabar's artwork with him. During that encounter, he shared part of his life story with her, then paid her high honor with his words. She attempted to respond in kind, opening a link to his mind and speaking telepathically. Ketaal, a sworn enemy of the daelkyr and their works, mistook her talent with mind-magics for the taint of Xoriat. To resolve this misunderstanding, she offered to undergo any test necessary, leading to Ketaal stabbing her in the hand with a byeshk weapon. She considered his action completely honorable (though not without heartache), but Ketaal felt the utmost shame over upon realizing she was truly not fleshwarped. After slicing his own hand as penance, he fled into the night. The next day, Relic, Ivello and Aida found Ketaal in one of his old haunts, a military bar. Aida attempted to reconcile with him, but Ketaal, at the end of his rope, demanded that Aida let him die as a a dhakaani should and let him commit ritual suicide. Aida refused, instead demanding her right to repay the bloodshed in her method of choosing -- stabbing through his hand -- however, she is unwilling to let him bear the injury alone, as she still considers herself largely responsible for the original incident. So she stabs through both of their hands, reopening her wound, and creating a matching one on his hand. Over the next weeks and months, the two formed an increasingly close bond. In a humorous miscommunication in front of many other Wayfinders in the lounge, Ketaal presented Aida with the material component for warding bond, not realizing that giving a woman a beautiful platinum ring signified something significantly more than being staunch allies. Aida now wears the platinum band on her right hand, a match to a ring on Ketaal's right hand. After ongoing speculation on the part of other curious Wayfinders, it has become evident that the pair's friendship is something more. Secrets Players are welcome to read everything in this section. Just keep in mind that in-character, these are secrets that you would not know (unless your name is Thak or Ketaal) and should not refer to in game. The Real Backstory While enslaved in Darguun, Aida met Zeraveth, a kalashtar and fellow slave. They fell in love. In the year 997 YK, the Dreaming Dark succeeded in killing the last of Zeraveth's lineage, himself excepted. Ironically, his enslavement may have been all that protected the line of Aveth from extermination. Upon realizing this, Zeraveth felt a growing urgency to escape. Together, he and Aida planned and enacted, but Zeraveth fell while ensuring Aida's freedom and that of dozens of others. Upon his death, Aveth, his hashalaq quori spirit lingered with her... As Aida is a half-elf with no kalashtar blood, her initial connection with Aveth was tenuous, giving her limited telepathic and empathic abilities, only flickers of the greater psionic abilities of the kalashtar. However, his presence brought her serenity, knowing a part of her lost love remained with her. With the faint comfort came more discomfort, however, as she began coming to terms with her newfound freedom, crushing loss, and a fundamental identity shift all at once. Aida began following the Path of Light as best she knew how, though without a kalashtar community around her, her worldview has been largely shaped by her human/half-elf upbringing. Since her escape from slavery, she has publicly dedicated her life as that of a paladin, swearing the Oath of Liberty. However, her powers do not actually come from a divine source, but from the psionic ability granted by her quori bond. Since Joining the Wayfinders While on her first mission with the Wayfinder Foundation, Aida's psionic powers had not fully manifested, as her link with the spirit Aveth was tenuous, not the strong all-encompassing bond of a kalashtar. Her telepathy was limited to sending thoughts one-way, and her mind still touched Dal Quor every night, potentially lethal if the Dreaming Dark were to discover her. Aida met a shattered kalashtar, Nivi, and her spirit Ashana (formerly Nivishana, before their severing). Nivi was a resistance leader from the Riedran city of Borutesh. Perhaps because of her own brokenness, she immediately recognized Aida's true nature, that she and Aveth were not yet whole. Nivi gave oh-so-dangerous (but ultimately successful) guidance on how Aida could embrace the dreams of the Inspired, learning to embrace her own dual nature as well. Aida was slain in a shared dream between her party members and an evil quori - this dream-death ultimately severed her connection with Dal Quor, freeing her from future contact with that plane. Truly bonded with the hashalaq through this trial, Aida's psionic powers began to grow. This victory was mixed with mourning, however, for Aida realizes she will never meet Zeraveth in her dreams again. She is now whole, but at a price. The day her bond was made whole, Aida shared her deepest secret with Thak, a Talentan druid and fellow Wayfinder. She told him of her lost kalashtar lover, and something more... "He can never fade, not as long as I live. As he died, he left me a rare gift, an impossible burden. Today, I learned to carry it. His name was Zeraveth. Today, I am Aidaveth." Upon returning to Khorvaire, Aida visited the kalashtar enclave in Sharn and spoke with Havakhad at the shrine of il'Yannah. She did not reveal her full identity, but implied that she bore a message from Nivi, encouraging them that "the line of Aveth lives." While there, Aida was struck by the resemblance between Zeraveth and a young kalashtar woman at the meeting. During her second mission, Aida encountered a circlet used by an enemy in an attempt to mind-control her. She recognized the touch of the circlet - it contains a quori, bound within the khybershard since the time of the giants...since before the Turning of the Age. The imprisoned quori is not one of the current age of Dal Quor, but one before the darkness descended. Fearing it would fall in the wrong hands, and being convinced of its priceless importance to the cause of the kalashtar, Aida risked much to steal the circlet without the knowledge of the other Wayfinders (other than Cicero, who helped with 'destroying' an illusionary circlet) or her boss ir'Kavay who stood feet away. After the mission, Aida reached out her mind to the circlet, and learned that their name is Nishti. She then took it to Havakhad in the Sharn enclave, at that time also admitting aloud her true identity as Aidaveth, though the seer was already aware. Today Few Wayfinders know about the quori she has bonded with: * Thak, her best friend * Ketaal, rather more than a friend * Cicero, who learned by accident in Riedra * Ekt (retired), who learned by accident in Riedra * Jadatash, who Havakhad sent to guard her despite her protests Other non-Wayfinders that know her secret include: * Havakhad, seer and sage of the kalashtar enclave in Sharn * Nivi, presumed dead, a shattered kalashtar from Riedra * Aktavi, du'ulora quori * Achati, tsucora quori (or would, if unbeknownst to Aida, Aktavi hadn't killed him) * Pyruun, sorcerer queen * Talhana, human Edgewalker * Naraat, Riedran dwarf rebel Aida does not guard the knowledge of her psionic abilities as closely, though few know of them. If the topic came up with a trusted companion, she might reveal general information about her kalashtar lover and their time in slavery. However, she would refer to him only as "Zera", concealing his lineage. ---- Enemies Now that Aktavi is aware that Aida is part of the line of Aveth (though not necessarily the only....), the Dreaming Dark is an even greater threat to Aida. She was also instrumental in kidnapping an Inspired diplomat, destroying a monolith, Aida also has great hatred for the Marguul clans of slavers, as well as the Daelkyr and those touched by Xoriat. Personality Traits * I am introverted, but despite it, have a deep love for connecting with others. I avoid positions of authority and am quite flustered when they fall into my lap. I sprinkle my speech with profanities in Goblin. Ideals * Chains are meant to be broken, as are those who would forge them. All people have good in them and deserve to be treated with respect. Inquiry and curiosity are the pillars of progress. Bonds * I protect those who cannot protect themselves - seeing others exploit the weak makes me very angry. My lover sacrificed himself for the freedom of others; I will always honor his memory by doing the same. * I am no longer a bystander - I have chosen sides, and stand against the quori in this war of shadows. * I have promised Ketaal and Volen I will join them, if called, to fight against their foes from Xoriat. Strengths * I am deeply intuitive and able to understand people's motivations, truths and deceits. * Through my psionic abilities, I can empower and inspire others both in and out of combat. * I am humble and value the wisdom of others, no matter their station. * I put others ahead of myself. Flaws * I know I can't save everyone, but maabet, I'm going to try anyways--even if it kills me. * I fear the power I have to manipulate and control others--powers just like the quori I detest. * I am not much for planning. I work better making intuitive decisions on the fly, but this can frustrate my team. * You want to compromise my ideals? Go through Ketaal or Thak. I would die for them in a heartbeat--if I didn't also have to live myself, for the sake of the quori in my head. If I had to choose between my loved ones and Aveth (or anything else)...I don't know what I would choose. * Anything that brings back memories of my time in slavery is liable to trigger erratic behavior. Helplessness, imprisonment, loss of agency. Worst of all, mind control - my mind is the one freedom I had left as a slave. Completed Missions Escape From Riedra On her first mission with the Wayfinders, Escape from Riedra, Aida discovered that she is prone to terrible sea sickness. This might be her last ocean voyage for a while. She told many lies to the mind-reading Thousand Eyes during her interrogation in Riedra, aided by a pearl that allowed her to disguise her thoughts. Later, in Borutesh, she made contact with the resistance, including a kalashtar woman, Nivi, who was kind to her. (See Secrets). During the final showdown with an Inspired agent, Aida's first true friend among the Wayfinders, Thak, attempted to kill her under the influence of a dominate person spell. Aida was able to free his mind from this domination, and to help appease his guilt over the incident, she offered to return the favor sometime and try to kill him. She was otherwise quite ineffectual in the battle, much to her frustration, as she had envisioned herself a grand warrior striking down the Dreaming Dark. Instead, she was just a girl with an unbloodied sword. Unbeknownst to her, as the Wayfinders left Riedra and the hanbalani altas behind, Aida was left with a faint imprint on her mind (a single assimilation point, which her DM will certainly cash in at the worst possible moment). She also took with her a small souvenir: a single earring in the shape of a scorpion's tail, taken from the changeling Ilir's body. Going Rogue On her second mission, Going Rogue, Aida had a long series of encounters with awful manipulative changelings in the employ of the Tyrants, challenging her ability to treat all races equally. She came close to dying at the hands (?) of a giant stage-sized mimic, compelled duelling it until the theater-goers could escape (and until Leo could step in to save her). She came even closer to dying when Fear, one of the changelings, smote her with necrotic energy--she bears a large angry scar on her right abdomen from his blade. The team was supposed to bait out two changelings, Sai (Channa) and Cloak (John), during a sting operation by the Red Cloaks at Redblades. However, less than a minute before the Red Cloaks charged in to catch the changelings as well as others engaged in illegal activities, Aida made a telepathic deal to help Sai in exchange for her turning on the Broker and her other partners. The other Wayfinders followed her lead without any explanation, leading to a long chase in which Sai and Cloak escaped, and in exchange, Sai helped them find the Broker. Aida still owes Sai for the other half of the deal -- a dinner date, which Sai has yet to show back up and claim her right to. The time will surely come... While fighting the Broker, he attempted to mind control Aida using the circlet. She recognized the touch as that of a quori, somehow imprisoned inside the circlet. Since the circlet was from the time of the giants, it is from before the turning of the age. She realized that a quori such as this could contain priceless information for the kalashtar in their fight against the Dreaming Dark (and efforts to fight for the next turning). With the help of Cicero, she faked the destruction of the circlet in combat, but actually stole it--she believes that nobody else noticed... Cicero knows nothing more than that it was a quori inside, and that she thought it too dangerous to stay in Wayfinder hands. After the mission, Aida attempted to reach out to the quori inside the circlet, learning only that the quori has indeed been waiting a very long time, and that her name is Nishki. After this, she delivered it to Havakhad, accompanied by Ketaal and Thak, the only two who know the full truth about the circlet, or her. When she saw Havakhad this second time, she admitted her true name, Aidaveth, though he already knew it, then introduced the circlet with Nishki as well. Daelkyr Hunting Ketaal gave Aida an exquisitely-crafted byeshk longsword that he crafted, just before they were dispatched on a side mission by Ketaal's contact among the Kech Shaarat of Sharn, Rutaan. They were asked to investigate a possible aberrant threat in the small town of Owl's Perch a few days outside of Sharn. After a brief investigation, it became clear that the mayor of the town had been replaced or changed by the touch of Xoriat. They defeated him, but in the process Ketaal's prosthetic arm was fleshwarped away and a new arm of flesh grew in its place. Aida severed it at his request, but it regrew once again over the course of the next week, and she convinced him to keep it after spells and exposure to byeshk revealed it to be untainted. She has since become friends with Volen, the Gatekeeper in Carosten Park that helped to ward Ketaal's arm against the influence of Xoriat, and promised her aid to the woman in time of need. Return to Riedra The magic circle holding back Aktavi from repossessing Shiaali was compromised, and the Wayfinders were sent on a mission back to the outskirts of Riedra in hopes of retrieving unknown magic from the sorcerer queen, Pyruun. Aida touched psionically-active crystals gleaned from a stream. Her mind unable to cope, she momentarily lost her sense of self, and Aveth was left untethered in the dreamscape, where he met a tsucora quori who was in charge of watching that region. The Tsucora was suspicious of his unauthorized presence, but Aveth convinced them that he was pursuing a host of Akhad. Aveth was permitted to escape without injury and, Aida hoped, without discovery. In the process of finding their way through her labyrinth of mind games, Aida slowly lost first her memories of places, then people, including her best friend Thak. During the Trial of the Mockery, the party was attacked by shadows of themselves, and were near defeat and death. Aida, judging the possible death of one to be better than the death of them all,screamed to the God of Betrayal, "Is this what you want? Death? Destruction? Ruin? Will that make us worthy?" then stabbed Thak in the back and watched with tears in her eyes as he crumpled to the floor. With that, Thak's shadow disappeared, and the tide of battle was turned. As they drew near to their destination, the mind magics of the Queen stole away Aida's very memory of herself. In the end, the Queen agreed to help them and her memory was restored, for the most part. However, she describes it as if her memories were all ripped out, shaken up, then poured haphazardly back in. She still remembers things, usually, but sometimes it feels like she's sifting through a pile of someone else's memories instead of ones that she herself lived. Talhana, the Edgewalker whose life she spared and attempted to persuade to turn away from the Inspired's sway, betrayed them at the last moment, allowing Lady Kulaachati to come into Pyruun's chamber. There, Aida was revealed as a kalashtar to her companions including the Wayfinders Cicero and Ekt, though none but Ketaal and Thak know she is the last of her line. Talhana escaped through a portal, told to report to Lady Parunaktavi. Presumably, Aktavi now knows of Aida's existence as a host for Aveth, though not that she is the last of his line. At Death's Door Insert summary here Into the Darness Insert summary here Crunch XP & Gold Log Inventory * Explorer's pack (10 gp) * Traveler's clothes - medium-brown cloak, dark-brown trousers, steel-blue long-sleeved shirt, medium-brown belt, brown boots (2 gp) * Simple teal dress with brown overcoat-dress-thing, brown slippers * 2 daggers * Belt pouch w/ coins * Byeshk longsword (215 gp, gift from Ketaal) * Adamantine plate armor (2400 gp) * Shield (10 gp) * Ring of arming - ATTUNEMENT (720 gp) * Zeraveth's ring on silver chain (refluffed holy symbol) (5 gp) * Valenar scimitar (25 gp - gift from Thak) * Contacts of Night (900 gp) * ''Guidance ''cantrip caster - ATTUNEMENT (300 gp) * ''Mage hand ''cantrip caster - ATTUNEMENT (300 gp) * Platinum ring (50 gp, gift from Ketaal) * Ilir's scorpion-tail earring * Other half of Ketaal's amulet (fluff/personal item, no mechanical benefit) * Glowy thingy trinket from Darness * Mind-reading pearl from Riedra 1 that she....forgot to give back. Character Sheet * https://1drv.ms/b/s!Ar4dGgTTRzbJgsEEbFCoG1t_pPEoOg?e=Q3CFzB Miscellaneous Notes * Aida has one "assimilation point" left from her Riedra mission, which DM Cephei and the Inspired can use at any moment to compromise her in mysterious ways. Oh goody. * Aida's build relies on a bit of refluffing. While in-character, Aida is a half-elf paladin with hidden psionic potential, relevant build details are as follows: ** Mechanical race is Kalashtar. (Aida no longer has the half-elf immunity to magical sleep, having traded it for a severance from dreams instead.) ** Class is Liberty Paladin 4 / Bard 1 *** In-character, all abilities come from latent psionic ability, not a god or religious belief. Aida's abilities are mainly telepathic (e.g. lay on hands = "empathic transfer"). ** Darkvision from Goggles of Night *** allow functional "half-elf" darkvision while using Kalashtar race - but these are NOT visible in game (refluff approved by CoE), you can think of them as invisible contacts. ;) Picture Gallery aida.jpg|Aida Ruel, Paladin of Liberty zera.jpg|Zeraveth (deceased) aida-and-zera.jpg|Memories __FORCETOC__ __NOEDITSECTION__ Category:Characters